Case Studies: Lamb Weston
Be opportunistic to spread desired messages, live the message and communicate!
Lamb Weston is the number one producer and supplier of French fries, potato products and frozen vegetables in the United States and number two globally. They have 26 production plants and products are sold in over 100 countries.
Integrity, inventiveness, empowerment, teamwork and a drive for results form the fundamental values of Lamb Weston. Jennifer Weekes, Senior Director Food Protection, described the impact that these values have on the every day actions of all employees. It is important, however, to understand how these values are communicated and how the company can positively influence in order to live in these values.
“Culture eats strategy for lunch and change initiatives for breakfast.”
As a company Lamb Weston strive to think about food safety culture all year long. Jennifer explained that If the company wants to make changes, the culture impacts the process of change therefore it is extremely important for all actions that will influence that change to be intentional and purposeful. Within any change initiative, awareness is key. Jennifer emphasised the importance of keeping it top of mind and be opportunistic with actions. Above all, communication is key. The message of making the right decisions even if no one is watching can be applied to everyone.
Lamb Weston have adopted stacking strategies to connect their priotiries; create a campaign > assign site champions > live the values > communicate! Just one of the communication tools utilised within Lamb Weston is “The Weekly Rundown”, designed to communicate key compliance information to colleagues.
Jennifer highlighted some successful initiatives that have been implemented by Lamb Weston:
Poster campaigns around specific ‘hot’ topics, such as, foreign material contamination.
Food Safety Star – a week long event focussing on compliance and ethics, the theme for 2022 was food safety.
Corporate-wide contest with random prize draws – designed to ensure that leaders are living the strategy.
Swag – branded merchandise including posters, balloons, t-shirts etc.
Food safety day – including food safety trivia, logoed t-shirts, shared food and meals to bring colleagues together.
Plant contest – designed to raise awareness of foreign material contamination with prizes for the winners.
Celebrating food safety wins e.g., audit scores.
Award nominations – all employees are able to nominate people for awards as part of Lamb Weston’s Hero programme which can relate specifically to food safety behaviours
Recognition for employees’ with specific focus on food safety and quality.
“Food safety university” – a training course with a 13-day curriculum which includes a graduation ceremony upon completion.
Hands on training is available for all employees for areas relevant to their role e.g. sanitation and microbiology, to progress their learning and experience
Reference: Campden BRI (2022), Culture Excellence 8th Annual Seminar